Reviewing for Different Ages

How do we learn differently at different ages and stages of life? And how can we help others learn from their experiences at different ages and stages in their lives?

In his book 'What is the difference?' Professor Alan Rogers claims that adults and children learn in much the same way. This challenges the dominant view in adult education theory that adults and children learn in different ways.

My own view is that other factors can be more significant than a person's chronological age - but age is still a factor. In my own writing about reviewing and reflection I do not usually distinguish between different ages and stages of life. This one-size-fits-all approach recognises the potential for using any idea with any age - if you are prepared to make adjustments. 'Age-neutral' writing gives you access to a wider range of ideas. A game from early years playwork can become an astute intervention for a business consultant - and vice versa.

I do accept that if you speak to a 5 year old as if they are a senior manager (or vice versa) you may not be successful. But then again you just might be! Every time I am tempted to make a generalisation about what is and is not suitable for different ages, exceptions spring to mind.

For example, Dorothy Heathcote (a professor of education) developed a drama-based technique called 'Mantle of the Expert' in which very young children are treated as if they are much older - and they rise to the occasion. When treated as if they are responsible and wise, children respond as if they are responsible and wise (at least within the structure of 'Mantle of the Expert').

And as for the value of people 'old enough to know better' playing like children, I have many tales I could tell. There are many who specialise in this area of play for all ages such as Bernie de Koven (Major Fun) found at <http://www.deepfun.com> or the FunFed in London who 'whole-heartedly believe in joy, upliftment and laughter for adults' <http://www.thefunfed.com>

Now that you have read several paragaphs without an 'active reviewing tip' in sight, I will now place these general observations about age-appropriate activity in the context of reviewing.

What should we bear in mind when reviewing with different age groups? How can we adapt the same reviewing activity for different age groups? Or do people automatically adjust and take part in a reviewing activity at their own optimal level?

Here are my current thoughts about reviewing with different age groups - mixed in with stories from friends and colleagues who have kindly contributed to this article with their own experiences of reviewing with different age groups.

[If you wish to add in your own examples, it is never too late because this is a web text to which I will be more than happy to include your own contribution to this growing document.]

Learning from experience appears to be an innate quality. [Ages 0-5]

A lot of learning happens in the first five years of our lives. Some of this learning is fed to us, but much of it happens through active learning - through active curiosity, playing, exploring and experimenting. Under fives have a lot of patience and persistence when things don't work on the first attempt. Under fives were not taught how to learn from experience. Learning from experience appears to be an innate quality. Under fives are naturals at active learning. And they get a bit restless if they are expected to sit still and listen to long lectures. They prefer listening to long 'stories' but they often interrupt, ask questions and like to participate.

> And the funny thing is that most of these observations hold true for over 5s, over 20s, over 50s and over 80s.

Finding the right question or finding the right method? [Ages 5-8]

I used to interrogate my children when I collected them from school. It would go something like this...

What did you do today? (nothing) Did you do reading today? (no) Did you learn anything new today? (no) Were you good today? (yes) Was there anything special about today? (not really) What was the best thing about today? (all of it)

The more questions I asked, the more I seemed to be shutting the door on any discussion about their day at school. So I switched to using 'sign language'! I would start by asking them, "What sort of day was it?".

They would respond with thumbs up or thumbs down, or (more usually) one thumb up and one thumb down. I would then say to one of them, "Which do you want to tell me about first?".

Sometimes they would choose to tell me the good news first, sometimes the bad news. Sometimes they would have so much news that they would 'borrow' extra thumbs. More often than not, this would quickly lead into an interesting conversation about their day at school.

'Thumbs up or down?' didn't work for long, but it worked well for a while. I was simply an interested parent trying to communicate with my children, trying to encourage them to tell me something (anything!) about their day. I was trying to open up communication about a recent experience.

Neither closed nor open questions worked very well. But asking for signs proved to be a much better starting point - which then led naturally into storytelling and discussion. My children were full of stories to tell me about their day, but my questions (open or closed) failed to trigger these stories. The game of thumbs up, thumbs down proved to be a much better trigger.

> What I learned from this was to seek alternatives to asking questions - or at least to offer alternative ways of responding.

Enquiry and reflection for all ages [Ages 5-100+]

Philosophy for Children is an approach to learning that emphasises enquiry and reflection. For work with younger children Professor Karin Murris's 'Teaching Philosophy Through Picture Books' (now 'StoryWise' co-authored with Joanna Haynes has had considerable impact on primary school education, along with the growing P4C movement promoted by SAPERE: the Society for Advancing Philosophical Enquiry and Reflection in Education. Communities of Enquiry can be created at any age - from very young to very old: SAPERE has a partnership with Age Concern in its work with Philosophy for Communities. <http://www.dialogueworks.co.uk/index.php/storywise> <http://www.sapere.org.uk>

> You are unlikely to discover the wisdom of children unless you provide them with an opportunity to demonstrate their wisdom.

Giving and receiving balanced feedback [Ages 10+]

My own introduction to the amazing thinking abilites of 10 year olds was on a visit as a teaching student to Stalham Primary School in Norfolk. Not only were the children asking me some big questions about global issues, they were also giving high quality feedback to each other following their performances of plays that they had written, produced and performed for each other. The young audience was in the habit of providing balanced feedback. They were able to provide critical feedback as well as showing a genuine interest in receiving both praise and criticism from their peers.

> When everyone knows they will have a turn at both giving and receiving feedback, motivation, care and quality increases!

Reflecting on values - using pictures and deciding line [Ages 10-12]

Lindeblad worked with 5th and 6th graders who were mocking each other. By using pictures with the decision line the children reached a common understanding of what good comradeship was all about. The children used the decision line for choosing pictures that best represented their ideas about good comradeship. Now the chosen pictures are hanging in the classroom as a visual reminder of what they need to have and to see: good comradeship.

> Deciding Line generates high involvement, and the use of pictures and appreciation makes it easier to achieve consensus.

Reflection, appreciation and feedback - using Smurfs [Ages 13-30+]

I love working with smurfs for self reflection or sometimes also for an appreciation circle or as a feedback tool. Even with teenagers and young adults, who aren’t always the easiest age group to reflect with, the smurfs have always worked for me. I have a collection of 70 - some sad ones, some angry ones, others being enthusiastic, happy...

> Choosing a Smurf makes it easier to think and talk about personal qualities - especially when there is a wide variety to choose from.

Changing a negative peer culture - with creative feedback methods [Ages 15-16]

When working on a residential youth programme, we were visited by a facilitator who was working on adult programmes at the same centre. He was astonished at how soon in a programme these teenagers were able to give and receive feedback. My reply was that the young people were giving lots of feedback to each other when they arrived - and it was 100% critical! Because this created such a negative environment for learning, we worked hard to change this from the very start of the programme. And I remember applying one lesson that I learned from Stalham Primary School many years earlier:

> If everyone knows that they will each have their own turn at both giving and receiving feedback, they will readily become more responsible and conscientious about doing so.

One method we used was to have young people lie down on paper (from a newsprint roll) and have their outlines traced by a partner. Using pens and paint everyone would then move round each other's life-size portraits adding colour, features, clothing and items as a way of sharing their impressions of that person.

Active Learning - the importance of feedback [Ages 5-18]

Professor John Hattie has sifted through 500 research reviews or 'meta-studies' of teaching methods from around the world. His summary of findings from 'effective control group research' is presented in a top twenty list of the teaching methods which have the greatest effect on achievement: 'feedback' comes top. His analysis included 253 of the most rigorous studies on active learning. His findings show that students in the experimental group perform (on average) a grade and a half better than if they had been placed in the control group. Active Learning adds a grade and a half to achievement!

> When using active learning include suitable opportunites for feedback. Remember that feedback can be active and creative too!

Creating a safe place to talk frankly - the Diary Room [Ages 15-16]

Dr. Kaye Richards tells me that she and Alison Butcher created a novel but familiar context when interviewing young people for a research project at Brathay <http://www.brathay.org.uk>. They recreated the Big Brother Diary Room. The young people would go into the diary room one at a time and sit in the comfy chair. Big Brother's voice would come through from the other side of a screen. This appeared to have the effect of encouraging young people to speak more openly than might be the case in a 'normal' interview. But just as thumbs up, thumbs down had a limited shelf life, I suspect the same is true for the Big Brother Diary Room. It is novelty that captures imagination and shifts people into a different way of thinking and communicating. And if the idea is a good cultural fit, the chances of success are greater.

> A change of context can help to engage people more deeply - especially if the context is both novel and familiar.

Letting young people explain things in their own language [Ages 15-16]

How do you explain 'experiential learning' to young people? If they are expected to be more active as learners, more responsible, more adventurous, more creative, more reflective, and more co-operative, then it seems like a good idea to find some way of ensuring that young people appreciate that they are in a different kind of learning environment that requires different attitudes and behaviours from them.

I remember trying to explain 'experiential learning' to young people who were mostly doing quite well at school. Having to switch into a new way of learning in which the teacher did not know the answers did not make much sense to them. Fortunately, the group included a boy who had been truanting from school for much of the previous year. He seemed to have an intuitive understanding of what I was trying to say, and he explained it in his own words - far more effectively than I had done.

This led me to a better way of explaining 'experiential learning'. We would simply do and review something and I would then ask 'How is this different from how you learn at school?' Rather than trying to explain by explaining, I was explaining by facilitating a comparative review of two different ways of learning which the young people had now experienced. And so the young people were able to explain the differences to me and to each other.

> In experiential learning the best explanations arise from facilitated reflection on experience - even when learning about learning.

Letting young people explore their world - through improv drama [Ages 15-16]

I was teaching the 'leavers class' - the class that would be leaving school with few or no qualifications. In fact many of them had left this class already and my first task was to track them down and persuade them to attend. To cut a long story short, we ended up doing improv theatre about changes in the local community that were already affecting employment - and their own employment prospects. The drama we were creating together was directly related to an issue that mattered to all of them. Their acting skills were better than their reading and writing skills, so I helped them produce a playscript closely based on their own improvisations.

The 'leavers' performed this play (about leaving) again and again - sometimes changing roles, sometimes adding new scenes and even writing their own scripts. Unfortunately they did not have the confidence to perform the play to other students, but they did allow the playscript to be used by other classes. Just before leaving school they gained an unlikely reputation as playwrights.

This is probably the closest I came to 'active reviewing' as a teacher (before encountering it as a trainer). The work stayed close to the experiences and concerns of the young people. The primary method (improv acting) was something they enjoyed and it played to their natural talents rather than dwelling on their lack of ability in reading and writing. As their confidence in acting grew, they got drawn in to reading and writing the playscript. And they received congratulatory feedback from many students from other classes who had read and performed the play which they had created.

> Finding an active way in which these students could reflect on their experiences as 'leavers' helped to engage them in the learning process.

> Genuinely believing that these students had the ability to create and perform a play was also an essential ingredient.

Learning from young people how important reviewing is to them [Ages 15-16]

When I was evaluating our residential programmes at Brathay <http://www.brathay.org.uk> young people told me what they valued so much about reviewing (often rating it higher than the activities in the progamme). They valued reviewing because they were listened to, and taken seriously in review time. In reviews they felt valued and respected, they felt it was a safe space where they could speak without being knocked down, and where they felt supported, where everyone got a turn and was treated fairly and with respect. They also liked the attention of others, especially when it was supportive.

It is not just 15-16 year olds who have such needs, but it was 15-16 years olds who told me how important these aspects of review sessions were for them. For practical tips on reviewing in ways that meet such developmental needs (across a wider age span) see my article on 'Reviewing for Development': <http://reviewing.co.uk/articles/reviewing-for-development.htm>

> By reviewing activities we show that we care about what people experience, that we value what they have to say, and that we are interested in their progress. When people feel cared for, valued, and respected they will be better learners!

Communicating with parents - with the help of a clay model [Ages 15-16]

Katriona Rioch told me this story when she was project leader at the Clydesdale Youth Project ...

At our parents' evening it was rare to see so many parents turning up and showing an interest in their sons. A lot of the conversation was about the clay models that the boys had taken back home. Each model was a self-portrait in clay. Few parents knew (or cared) much about what was happening in this group until they saw the clay models. The models prompted conversations with parents about the young person's self image, how they saw themselves and thought about themselves. For many this made a welcome (if awkward) change from being ignored or reprimanded. The clay model and the subsequent discussions with the young person and then with their youth workers resulted in parents showing renewed interest in their sons and in their responsibilities towards them.

> A creative process (such as the making of a clay model) promotes reflection and dialogue - with all who see the product.

Reflecting on street life - with poetry [Ages 18-22]

At Ladymuir Youth Project, Sandy told me how he found the courage to read his poems to his mates ...

"You had to read out your own personal feelings, and I had to do it first. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. That was the turning point for me: when I'd seen that I could open up in front of these other guys. It was a great experience... If that group was still there, the other boys might not be in jail, because they were getting all sorts of kicks out of it. The kick was out of everything. You'd get a high off everybody else. Everything just ran about the group and made everyone really high. I found that I came out of my shell even more, and could speak about things that I wouldn't normally speak about. I think that's what that group done for me. It just brought me right out, made me more aware of things that's happening. Through that group I broke away from the street life that I was used to: cutting several links - not all links - I've still got my pals."

> When participants write and read poetry, the reflective and mutually supportive nature of a group can be transformed.

Giving feedback - using a football metaphor [Ages 18-22]

A group of apprentices were talking a lot about football. Perhaps they understood the world of football better than any other. So I used their interest in football and their knowledge of the game for setting up and managing a feedback session.

The starting point was to identify the skills and qualities needed for different positions on the field of play. I then asked them to put aside any knowledge they happened to have about each other's footballing skills. Now they had to place each other (physically) on the field of play, giving reasons why they were suited to a particular position. For example, a centre forward might be seen as a talented individual who does very little until someone shouts at them; or a defender might be seen as someone who is reliable but is always cutting others down. Once they got going, the quality of feedback was surprisingly sophisticated - much more so than if I had asked them to give straight feedback to each other.

> Start from strengths and existing knowledge. These apprentices knew about teamwork on the football field but had not so far applied these insights to their own teamwork and team roles.

Reflecting on leadership - with pictures [Ages 25+]

In a research project that involved adult leaders reflecting on their experiences as leaders, it was their choosing and arranging of pictures that enabled them to reflect and communicate more clearly about what it was like to be a leader. This use of pictures allowed them to explore what helped them to thrive in their role as leaders.

> A varied collection of pictures can really help people think things through - especially when touching, moving and rearranging pictures is also part of the process.

Reflecting on working, relationships and change - with music [Ages 25+]

"We decided that in our drama we wouldn't use words, we would just use drama and music and percussion, and be fairly creative ... The theme was "working relationships and change". So we were thinking about chaos into harmony. Percussion and wind instruments - discord, trees, panic and fear and harmony and we brought together the rhythms, and with the harmony and the tune at the end and that was very powerful because it wasn't constrained by jargon or language or anything ... That was why it was powerful ... because it was a totally different setting and yet we were asked to produce a drama on working relationships and change and we did!"

> Using music for reflection removes the normal constraints of words and jargon and can lead to a deeper understanding.

Reflecting on a management development programme - with paint [Ages 25+]

"I think it came together for me quite well at the end - the collage [hand painting]. It demonstrated how we were feeling at the time and what we got from the course. And that was quite nice because that put me in touch with a bit of myself that I think was there but I hadn't been conscious of for a while - of creativity - doing things that were generated from within me, and that I gave fairly free rein to... I just dipped my hands in a load of paint and was splashing about making things that were 3D, that were textural and that flowed... I was mixing paints up and mixing mediums up and didn't put any straight lines in this thing at all which was symbolic to me - symbolic to me about how I'd like to be really. I'd like things to flow around and for there to be peaks and troughs. I don't particularly want to work on an even plane, nor do I want to compartmentalise things in straight lines. I would like to think there's some purpose to everything I do that relates to something else... I wasn't conscious of anyone around me or anything. I just got into the exercise and let my thoughts run free."

> To get in touch with your creative self and let your thoughts run free, it is helpful to use a creative medium for reflection!

Reflecting and leading - creatively [Ages 25+]

The Center for Creative Leadership has explored and developed the use of creative methods in leadership development. The research findings of Charles Palus and David North are described in The Leader's Edge. Among their proposed six key competencies for leaders are imaging, serious play and crafting.

> Creative arts have a useful role to play both in reflecting on leadership and in being effective leaders.

Managers guaging opinion more quickly - with active reviewing [Ages 25+]

CSC, a large private company, realised they could cut time dramatically by using the Horseshoe reviewing technique. It took them a workshop about active reviewing to realise that instead of spending valuable working hours interviewing and guessing what people thought of a topic, all they had to do was to ask the question (10 seconds) and then have people position themselves in a well defined Horseshoe. It was a revelation to the project leaders, and all over the offices in Copenhagen you see teams and their project leader working with the Horseshoe.

> Challenge norms and take risks if you want to leave safe routines and discover more effective ways of learning.

Reviewing with a defensive group - letting the group decide [Ages 25-35]

Working with a group from the I.T. department of a financial institution, we found that we just couldn't penetrate the rather defensive attitude which the group seemed to share.

At our wits end, we shared our concerns with the group and gave them space (45 minutes) and a place (the group room) to reflect on this. After 20 minutes or so, we heard thumps, bumps and silly laughter. A little later we ventured back into the room to find the group playing "tig" (AKA "tag").

On reflection I think they were probably a little wary of making fools of themselves in front of each other - but after "tig", nothing we might inflict on them would look as silly...

> Sometimes the smartest move is to share your concerns, leave the room and let the group surprise you with their solution.

Reflecting - with drama [Ages 30-50]

As a group facilitator on a management development programme, I found that 'my group' was cruising through everything. They were so capable at project management that they appeared to be demonstrating their high levels of competence rather than learning anything new. I expressed my concerns and wondered whether we should change tack. Among the options I mentioned was 'drama'. On saying the word 'drama' I noticed a kind of 'recoil', so I added 'It looks to me as if we should do some drama'.

This is not the way I usually 'sell' drama, but the group accepted the challenge and we then re-enacted incidents from the programme as well as incidents from their work place. We then explored alternative possibilities through role play. It worked.

> Drama presented a different kind of challenge, and drawing as it did on their own experiences, it proved to be highly relevant.

Telling a life story - through drama [Ages 70-80]

Recently I was working on a leadership programme in which one participant stood out because she was forty or fifty years older than most of the other participants. I asked her about her motivation to take part. She looked surprised and said,

One challenge she later accepted was to tell her life story (in ten minutes). She told her story while the rest of her group acted it out. She, the actors and the audience were completely engrossed in this performance of the extraordinary life of a lifelong learner.

> Enthusiasm for learning and development is not age-related. And those who know most about learning from experience are probably those who have done most learning from experience.

Older people - reflection through movement, dance and song [Ages 70-100+]

Dr. Richard Coaten finds that people with dementia may have difficulty with cognitive approaches because their cognition is damaged. But they can access their remaining potential through other senses, especially those which are embodied. They are especially responsive to dancing, movement, singing and reminiscing with objects. Stimulating memories through smells, food, music, dance and pictures matters even more when people are so vulnerable and frail - because reaching them through these senses may be the only route left to communicate with them.

The principles of active and creative reviewing seem to apply even more to people with dementia. This conjuring up of memories through several sensory channels helps to instill a sense of well being which supports personhood in dementia. Those who care for them can also be enlivened through such work because they can more readily connect when communicating in these enriched ways.

People with dementia do not like being referred to as 'patients'. They can be just as resistant to negative labelling as teenagers. From the perspective of active learning, labelling people in the passive role of 'patient' instantly places them in an inactive role as a recipient of services - rather than as an active participant in their own well being.

Thank you Richard for miraculously arriving in my office while I was writing this article about reviewing with different age groups.

These insights come from Richard's PhD thesis: Building Bridges of Understanding: the use of embodied practices with older people with dementia and their care staff as mediated by dance movement psychotherapy. (University of Surrey, 2009)

> If chatting over a cup of tea isn't working, remember that there are whole other worlds and channels through which people can recall, reflect and discover.

Reviewing with Different Ages – what I have learned

When I set out to write this article about 'Reviewing with Different Ages' I thought I might end up with a reasonably tidy list of age-related tips. But looking through all these examples I have ended up with just one 'extra big' age-related tip - which is to take care that you do not limit your choices based on assumptions about what is (or is not) 'age appropriate'.

Of course, what you choose needs to be appropriate for the people you are working with. And if you are not sure what is appropriate, then try letting the people choose. Some of the above examples show how groups and individuals have chosen how to reflect on their experiences – and made good choices.

A recurring theme, in the examples above is the value and richness of moving beyond purely verbal approaches and making reflection a more active and creative process. In some of the examples, there are no words at all, but the usual story is that the greatest power comes from a mix of methods that engage the whole person in the process of reflection.

Here are the key points again. They make more sense if you can relate them to the original example. And they make even more sense if you can relate them to your own experiences. Given my 'extra big' age-related tip above, I have removed most references to age in the summary below.

If you wish to add in your own examples, it is never too late because this is a web text to which I will be more than happy to include your own contribution to this growing document. Please write with your comments or contributions to: roger@reviewing.co.uk

Acknowledgements: Thank you to all those who have contributed their stories and examples to this article.

The Myth of Generational Differences in the Workplace
"Despite all we’ve heard recently about the differences between the four generations in the workplace, a new book flies in the face of the conventional wisdom on the subject. Jennifer Deal’s research shows that regardless of age, we all want the same things: respect, trustworthy leaders, and opportunities to grow. (And nobody likes change.)"

"The conventional wisdom about generational differences in the workplace is mostly wrong, according to a new book by Jennifer J. Deal, a research scientist with the Center for Creative Leadership."

Nigel Paine writes: "Age is a dangerous area to fixate upon. Someone of 45 can demonstrate all the characteristics of a generation Y persona, and someone of 25 won’t! It depends on multiple personality factors. Myers Briggs' 'personality type indicator' (mbti) is a far more reliable indicator of learning characteristics and attitude that someone's date of birth. Fixating on one group is naive and divisive and simply will not work. Read the research if you do not believe me." This is Myth #3 in Five learning myths to dump before the New Year at http://www.trainingzone.co.uk.
PS Does anyone know of other research (other than Jennifer Deal's above) that minimises the the existence or significance of generational differences?

Copyright © Roger Greenaway, Reviewing Skills Training, who promotes ACTIVE LEARNING via
TRAINING EVENTS, CONSULTANCY, HANDBOOKS, RESEARCH, CONFERENCES, and EZINES

The address of this page is http://reviewing.co.uk/articles/reviewing-for-different-ages.htm UP TO TOP

Introduction: How do we learn differently at different ages and stages of life?
Learning from experience appears to be an innate quality.	0-5	Communicating with parents - with the help of a clay model	15-16
Finding the right question or finding the right method?	5-8	Reflecting on street life - with poetry	18-22
Enquiry and reflection for all ages	5-100+	Giving feedback - using a football metaphor	18-22
Giving and receiving balanced feedback	10+	Reflecting on leadership - with pictures	25+
Reflecting on values - using pictures and deciding line	10-12	Reflecting on working, relationships and change - with music	25+
Reflection, appreciation and feedback - using Smurfs	13-30+	Reflecting on a management development programme - with paint	25+
Changing a negative peer culture - with creative feedback methods	15-16	Reflecting and leading - creatively	25+
Active Learning - the importance of feedback	5-18	Managers guaging opinion more quickly - with active reviewing	25+
Creating a safe place to talk frankly - the Diary Room	15-16	Reviewing with a defensive group - letting the group decide	25-35
Letting young people explain things in their own language	15-16	Reflecting - with drama	30-50
Letting young people explore their world - through improv drama	15-16	Telling a life story - through drama	70-80
Learning from young people how important reviewing is to them	15-16	Older people - reflection through movement, dance and song	70-100+
Conclusions: Reviewing with Different Ages – what I have learned

REVIEWING FOR DIFFERENT AGES